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Cleveland youth helping Flint residents, one water bottle at a time

Posted at 4:48 PM, Mar 14, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-14 18:11:39-04

CLEVELAND — A water crisis in Michigan has prompted local youth to help out residents who have lived without clean water for years.

The Cleveland Boys and Girls Club is taking hundreds of cases of donated water to those affected by the crisis.

“We really felt a major need to do something about it,” said Earl Ingram, a mentor at the club.

Lead-tainted water flowed into the bodies of people in Flint. Illness, even death followed. In 2014, the city switched its water source to the Flint River, before treating it for corrosion.

“Not be able to do your normal shower routine, not to be able to go to the sink and just wash your hands after using the restroom,” said Ingram. “Not having the ease of taking a shower. Just the strategy that goes into a day-to-day. You have kids that are kindergarten age, and all they’ve ever done is live out of a bottle.”